First-grader syndrome - how to help your child adapt to school? Adult problems of young students: how to help a first-grader adapt to school.

Adaptation to school is the process of getting used to new school conditions, which every first grader experiences and understands in his own way. Most first-graders come to school from kindergarten. There were games, walks, a quiet routine, naps during the day, and a teacher was always nearby. The current first-graders were the oldest children there! At school everything is different: here there is work in a rather intense mode and a new strict system of requirements. It takes time and effort to adapt to them.
The period of adaptation of a child to school lasts from 2-3 weeks to six months. This depends on many factors: the individual characteristics of the child, the type of educational institution, the level of complexity of educational programs, the degree of readiness of the child for school, etc. The support of relatives is very important - mom, dad, grandparents.

• The first-grader likes school, he goes there with pleasure, and willingly talks about his successes and failures. At the same time, he understands that the main purpose of his stay at school is learning, and not excursions into nature or watching hamsters in a living corner.
• A first-grader does not get too tired: he is active, cheerful, curious, rarely catches a cold, sleeps well, and almost never complains of pain in the stomach, head, or throat.
• A first-grader is quite independent: he has no problems changing clothes for physical education (he easily ties his shoelaces, fastens buttons), confidently navigates the school building (he can buy a bun in the cafeteria, go to the toilet), and, if necessary, will be able to turn to an adult for help.
• He made friends and classmates, and you know their names.
• He likes his teacher and most of the extracurricular teachers in the class.
• To the question: “Maybe it’s better to go back to kindergarten?” he answers decisively: “No!”

A child coming to school for the first time will be greeted by a new group of children and adults. He needs to establish contacts with peers and teachers, learn to fulfill the requirements of school discipline, and new responsibilities associated with academic work. Experience shows that not all children are ready for this. Some first-graders, even with a high level of intellectual development, find it difficult to bear the workload that schooling requires. Psychologists point out that for many first-graders, and especially six-year-olds, social adaptation is difficult, since a personality capable of obeying the school regime, mastering school norms of behavior, and recognizing school responsibilities has not yet been formed.
The year separating a six-year-old child from a seven-year-old is very important for mental development, because during this period the child develops voluntary regulation of his behavior, orientation towards social norms and requirements. At this time, a new type of mental activity is formed - “I am a schoolboy.”
As already mentioned, the initial period of education is quite difficult for all children entering school. In response to the new increased demands on the body of a first-grader in the first weeks and months of school, children may complain of fatigue, headaches, irritability, tearfulness, and sleep disturbances. Children's appetite and body weight decrease. There are also difficulties of a psychological nature, such as, for example, a feeling of fear, a negative attitude towards school, the teacher, and a misconception about one’s abilities and capabilities.
The changes described above in the body of a first-grader associated with the start of school are called by some foreign scientists “adaptation disease”, “school shock”, “school stress”.

According to the degree of adaptation, children can be divided into three groups.
First group children adapt during the first two months of training. These children relatively quickly join the team, get used to school, and make new friends. They are almost always in a good mood, they are calm, friendly, conscientious and fulfill all the teacher’s demands without visible tension. Sometimes they still have difficulties either in contacts with children or in relationships with the teacher, since it is still difficult for them to fulfill all the requirements of the rules of behavior. But by the end of October, the difficulties of these children, as a rule, are overcome, the child is completely accustomed to the new status of a student, and to the new requirements, and to the new regime.
Second group children have a longer period of adaptation; the period of non-compliance of their behavior with the requirements of the school is prolonged. Children cannot accept a new situation of learning, communication with the teacher, children. Such schoolchildren can play in class, sort things out with a friend, they do not respond to the teacher’s comments or react with tears or resentment. As a rule, these children also experience difficulties in mastering the curriculum; only by the end of the first half of the year do these children’s reactions become adequate to the requirements of the school and teacher.
Third group - children whose socio-psychological adaptation is associated with significant difficulties. They exhibit negative forms of behavior, sharp manifestations of negative emotions, and have great difficulty in mastering educational programs. It is these children that teachers most often complain about: they “disturb” their work in the classroom.

What difficulties do parents and teachers face in the first years of their children’s education, what are their main complaints?
1. Chronic failure.
In practice, there are often cases when difficulties in a child’s adaptation to school are associated with the parents’ ATTITUDE towards school life and the child’s school performance.
This, on the one hand, is the parents’ fear of school, the fear that the child will feel bad at school. This is often heard in the speech of parents: “If it were up to me, I would never send him to school.” Fears that the child will be sick or catch a cold. On the other hand, this is an expectation from the child only of very good, high achievements and an active demonstration of dissatisfaction with him the fact that he cannot cope, that he does not know how to do something. During the period of initial education, a change occurs in the attitude of adults towards children, towards their successes and failures. A “good” child is considered to be a child who studies successfully, knows a lot, easily solves problems and copes with educational tasks. Unexpected parents have a negative attitude towards the inevitable difficulties at the beginning of learning (verbally and non-verbally). Under the influence of such assessments, the child’s self-confidence decreases, anxiety increases, which leads to deterioration and disorganization of activity. And this leads to failure, failure increases anxiety, which again disorganizes his activities. The child learns new material and skills worse, and, as a result, failures are consolidated, bad grades appear, which again cause dissatisfaction with parents, and so, the further, the more, and break this vicious the circle becomes increasingly difficult. Failure becomes chronic.

2. Withdrawal from activities.
This is when a child sits in class and at the same time seems to be absent, does not hear questions, does not complete the teacher’s assignments. This is not associated with the child’s increased distractibility to foreign objects and activities. This is withdrawal into oneself, into one’s inner world, fantasies. This often happens to children who do not receive enough attention, love and care from parents and adults (often in dysfunctional families).

3. Negativist demonstrativeness.
Characteristic of children with a high need for attention from others and adults. Here there will be complaints not about poor academic performance, but about the child’s behavior. He violates general rules of discipline. Adults punish, but in a paradoxical way: those forms of treatment that adults use to punish turn out to be encouragement for the child. The true punishment is deprivation of attention.
Attention in any form is an unconditional value for a child, who is deprived of parental affection, love, understanding, and acceptance.

4. Verbalism.
Children developing according to this type are characterized by a high level of speech development and delayed thinking. Verbalism is formed in preschool age and is associated primarily with the peculiarities of the development of cognitive processes. Many parents believe that speech is an important indicator of mental development and make great efforts to ensure that the child learns to speak fluently and smoothly (poems, fairy tales, etc.). The same types of activities that make the main contribution to mental development (the development of abstract, logical, practical thinking - these are role-playing games, drawing, designing) appear in the background. Thinking, especially figurative thinking, lags behind. Brisk speech and clear answers to questions attract the attention of adults who highly value the child. Verbalism, as a rule, is associated with a child’s high self-esteem and adults’ overestimation of his abilities. When school begins, it becomes clear that the child is unable to solve problems, and some activities that require imaginative thinking cause difficulties. Not understanding what the reason is, parents are prone to double extremes: 1) blame the teacher; 2) blame the child (increase demands, force them to study more, show dissatisfaction with the child, which, in turn, causes insecurity, anxiety, activities are disorganized, fear of school and parents increases for their failure, inferiority, and then the path to chronic failure. Necessary: pay more attention to the development of imaginative thinking: drawings, design, modeling, appliqué, mosaic. Basic tactics: maintain the flow of speech and stimulate productive activity.

5. The child is lazy" - These are very common complaints.
Anything could be behind this.
1) reduced need for cognitive motives;
2) motivation to avoid failure, failure (“and I won’t do it, I won’t succeed, I don’t know how”), that is, the child refuses to do anything because he is not confident in success and knows what a bad grade is, his work They won’t praise you, but will once again accuse you of incompetence.
3) general slowness of the pace of activity associated with temperamental characteristics. The child works conscientiously, but slowly, and it seems to the parents that he is “too lazy to move,” they begin to urge him on, get irritated, show dissatisfaction, and at this time the child feels that he is not needed, that he is bad. Anxiety arises, which disorganizes activities.
4) High anxiety as a global problem of self-doubt is also sometimes regarded by parents as laziness. The child does not write a phrase, an example, because... I’m not at all sure how and what to write. He begins to shirk any action if he is not convinced that he is doing the right thing, well, because he already knows that his parents will love him if he does everything well, and if not, then he will not receive the “portion” of love he needs.
Less common is laziness in the proper sense, when a child does only what pleases him. This is spoiling.

How can I help my child adapt to school?
The most important result of such assistance is to restore the child’s positive attitude towards life, including daily school activities, towards all persons involved in the educational process (child - parents - teachers). When learning brings children joy or at least does not cause negative experiences associated with the awareness of oneself as inferior, lacking love, then school is not a problem.
A child starting school needs moral and emotional support. He should not just be praised (and scolded less, or better not scolded at all), but praised precisely when he does something. But:
1) under no circumstances compare his mediocre results with the standard, that is, with the requirements of the school curriculum, the achievements of other, more successful students. It is better to never compare your child with other children (remember your childhood).
2) You can compare a child only with himself and praise him only for one thing: improving his own results. If he made 3 mistakes in yesterday’s homework, and 2 in today’s homework, this should be noted as a real success, which should be appreciated sincerely and without irony by his parents. It should be emphasized that once he has learned to do something well, he will gradually learn everything else.
Parents must wait patiently for success, because... School work is where the vicious circle of anxiety most often closes. School should remain an area of ​​gentle assessment for a very long time. The pain in the school sphere must be reduced by any means: reduce the value of school grades, that is, show the child that he is loved not for good studies, but loved, valued, generally accepted as his own child, of course, not for something, but in spite of everything. The more we try to educate, to put pressure on, the more resistance grows, which sometimes manifests itself in sharply negative, pronounced demonstrative behavior. As already mentioned, demonstrativeness, hysteria, and capriciousness are generated by the lack of love, attention, affection, and understanding in a child’s life. Each case is best considered individually. We can only give some general recommendations. Reduce all comments to a minimum when the child is “playing tricks,” and most importantly, reduce the emotionality of your reactions to a minimum, because it is precisely emotionality that the child seeks. There is only one way to punish hysterics - deprivation of communication (calm, not demonstrative). Main award- this is kind, loving, open, trusting communication in those moments when the child is calm, balanced, and doing something. (Praise his activities, work, and not the child himself, he still won’t believe it). I like your drawing. I'm glad to see how you work with your constructor, etc.).
1. The child needs to find an area where he could realize his demonstrativeness (clubs, dancing, sports, drawing, art studios, etc.).

Medical recommendations:
For students who have reached 6.5 years of age at the start of their studies, classes are held only in the first shift, no earlier than 8 a.m., over a five-day school week, in compliance with a stepwise regime (in the first quarter - three lessons of 35 minutes each; in the second quarter - four 35 minute lesson). To create such a regime, it is recommended to place the first classes in a separate educational section. The layout of many schools does not allow this; in this case, teachers should be advised to devote the last 10 minutes of the lesson to quiet games, drawing, and watching funny cartoons. From the second half of the year no more than four lessons of 45 minutes each are allowed. After the second or third lesson, a daily dynamic lesson lasting at least 40 minutes should be organized with the organization of outdoor games under the supervision of a teacher in the open air or, in case of adverse weather conditions, in recreation.
Education should be carried out without scoring for the entire year and without homework for the first six months. On Wednesday, a lighter day should be included in the class schedule (subjects less difficult to study or with a dynamic component). An additional week's vacation is required in the middle of the third quarter.
To facilitate adaptation, first-graders’ compliance with the norms of physical activity is of great importance. To do this, the following should be organized for them at school: gymnastics before classes, physical education minutes in class, outdoor games during breaks, a dynamic break - daily, physical education lessons - at least twice a week, as well as extracurricular sports activities. Parents are advised to take their child for a walk every day after school and before bed.
Of course, to facilitate the adaptation of first-graders, it should be organized rational daily routine . Experts recommend, if possible, not to immediately send a first-grader to an extended day group for the whole day; It is highly advisable, at least in the first quarter, to arrange for the child one or two days completely or partially free from “extended school”.
First grade students can participate in sections and clubs (mainly physical education and aesthetic classes should be recommended): no more than two clubs are recommended with a total duration of classes of no more than 6 hours per week. It is recommended to start doing homework no earlier than 16:00. Children’s daily routine should include a period of quiet rest after lunch; it is possible to organize nap for children who do not attend an extended day group. The duration of nightly sleep for first-graders should be at least 9.5 hours, and playing on the computer and watching TV shows should not exceed 1 hour per day.
The first grade of school is one of the most difficult periods in a child's life. When entering school, a child is influenced by the class group, the personality of the teacher, a change in routine, an unusually long restriction of physical activity, and the emergence of new responsibilities.
Adapting to school, the child’s body mobilizes. But it should be borne in mind that the degree and pace of adaptation is individual for everyone, so each child requires help and great patience from all the adults around him.

The child goes to first grade. Why is it difficult for him to get used to school and how can his parents help him with this?

It seems like just recently you picked up your baby from the maternity hospital. And then the years flew by unnoticed, and it was time to take him to first grade. Joyful expectations, new impressions, elegant bouquets, white bows or bow ties – this paints a picture of a wonderful holiday for a first-grader. But the effect of novelty and charm in the unusual setting quickly wears off, and the child begins to understand that he came to school not for a holiday, but for study. And now the most interesting thing...

Suddenly you begin to notice that your previously obedient and kind child suddenly becomes aggressive, refuses to go to school, cries, is capricious, complains about the teacher and classmates, or collapses from fatigue. Of course, a loving parent immediately begins to sound the alarm: what to do about this? How to help your child get used to school? Is everything that is happening to him normal?

As always, there is no single answer to all these questions. After all, your child is a person, and he has his own individual characteristics, his own temperament, character, habits, health, and finally. Factors such as:

• the child’s level of readiness for schooling - this means not only mental, but also physical and psychological readiness;
• the degree of socialization of the baby - how well can he communicate and cooperate with peers and with adults, in particular, did he go to kindergarten?

How to understand how successfully a child gets used to school?

Starting school is a serious event in the life of a little person. Essentially, this is his step, or even a leap, into the unknown. Try for a moment to put yourself in the shoes of your daughter or son, or, if possible, remember your first school experiences. Exciting, right? Even if mom and dad told the baby in as much detail and in advance about what awaits him at school, the first time will still be very unexpected for him. And the words “You will study there,” in fact, are unlikely to say very much to a 6-7 year old. What does it mean to study? How to do it? Why do I need it? Why can’t I, as before, play and walk with my mother and sisters and brothers? And this is only the first level of your child’s experiences.

This includes new acquaintances and the need to get used to new operating conditions. Do Masha and Vanya like me? What about the teacher? Why do I have to sit at the same desk with Vasya, who pulls my pigtails? Why does everyone laugh when I want to play with the car? Why should I sit for so long if I want to run? Why doesn't the bell ring for so long? Why, if I want to go home to my mother, am I not allowed?

It’s easy to guess what enormous intellectual, physical, and emotional stress children experience during adaptation to school. And we, as loving parents, are simply obliged to help them get through this period as gently and painlessly as possible. It is for this reason that it is worth periodically trying to put yourself in the place of a child, learning to look from his bell tower, remembering how you felt when “the stars shone brighter and were big at home.” And give the baby exactly what he needs most now.

The baby needs time to get used to the new environment. Not one day, not one week and not even one month. According to the observations of experts, the average duration of adaptation to school is from two months to six months. Adaptation is considered successful if the child:

• calm, in a good mood;
• speaks well of the teacher and classmates;
• quickly makes friends among peers in the class;
• without discomfort and easily completes homework;
• understands and accepts school rules;
• reacts normally to the teacher’s comments;
• not afraid of teachers or peers;
• accepts the new daily routine normally - gets up in the morning without tears, falls asleep calmly in the evening.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Signs of child maladjustment may often be observed:

• excessive fatigue of the baby, difficulty falling asleep in the evenings and equally difficult awakenings in the morning;
• the child’s complaints about the demands of teachers and classmates;
• difficult adaptation to the demands of school, resentment, whims, resistance to order;
• as a result, difficulties in learning. With all this “bouquet”, it is simply impossible for a child to also concentrate on gaining new knowledge.

In such cases, comprehensive assistance from parents, a psychologist and a teacher is necessary. This way you can help your child go through this period in the most optimal way for him. But, for more conscious help from the baby, it’s a good idea to figure out what actually happens to him during the period of getting used to school?

First of all, let's deal with the increased physiological load on the baby. Educational activities require the child to maintain a relatively motionless posture throughout the lesson. If previously your child devoted most of his time to all sorts of activities - running, jumping, fun games - now he has to sit at a desk for several hours a day. Such a static load is very difficult for a six or seven year old child. The baby’s physical activity becomes actually half as much as before entering school. But the need for movement does not turn off so easily in one day - it still remains large and is now not being satisfied qualitatively.

In addition, at the age of 6 - 7 years, large muscles mature faster than small ones. In this regard, it is much easier for children to perform sweeping, strong movements than those that require greater precision - for example, writing. Accordingly, the child quickly gets tired from performing small movements.

The physiological adaptation of a first-grader to school goes through several stages:

1. “Physiological storm” is what experts call the first couple of weeks of school. All systems of the child’s body are greatly strained in response to new external influences, taking away a significant part of the baby’s resources. In this regard, many first-graders begin to get sick in September.
2. Then begins an unstable adaptation to new living conditions. The baby's body is trying to find the most appropriate reactions to the outside world.
3. And only then does the phase of relatively stable adaptation begin. Now the body already understands what is wanted from it and strains less in response to stress. The entire period of physical adaptation can last up to 6 months and depends on the child’s initial data, his endurance and state of health.

Parents should not underestimate the difficulty of the period of physiological adaptation of their child. Doctors say that some first-graders are losing weight by the end of October, and many are showing signs of fatigue, such as a decrease or increase in blood pressure. Therefore, there is nothing to be surprised when 6-7 year olds complain of a constant feeling of fatigue, headaches or other pains in the first two to three months of school. Children may become capricious, partially lose control over their behavior, and their mood may change dramatically and frequently. For many children, school itself becomes a stressogenic factor, because it requires increased stress and attention. As a result, by the middle of the day children are overtired, unable to fully relax. Sometimes children are already sad in the morning, look devastated, may complain of abdominal pain, and sometimes even morning vomiting appears. If the baby also had some health difficulties before entering school, adaptation may not be easy. Remember this before you reproach your child for laziness and unwillingness to take on new responsibilities!

First of all, let's look at some of the psychological characteristics of a first-grader. By the age of 6–7 years, a greater balance is established between the processes of excitation and inhibition than before. But still, excitement still prevails over inhibition, which is why first-graders are generally very active, restless, and highly excited emotionally.

After 25-35 minutes of the lesson, the child’s performance drops, and in the second lesson it may generally decline sharply. With high emotional saturation of lessons and extracurricular activities, children can become very tired. All this must be taken into account by adults to help their child adapt.

Turning to developmental psychology, we can say that a new type of activity comes into a child’s life - educational. In general, the leading activities of a child are:

• from 1 year to 3 years - object-manipulative game;
• from 3 to 7 years - role-playing game;
• from 7 to 11 years – educational activities, operational and technical activities.

On the basis of this new activity for the child, thinking moves to the center of consciousness. It becomes the main mental function and gradually begins to determine the work of all other mental functions - perception, attention, memory, speech. All these functions also become arbitrary and intellectualized.

Thanks to the rapid and constant development of thinking, such a new property of a child’s personality appears as reflection - awareness of oneself, one’s position in a group - class, family, assessment of oneself from the position of “good - bad”. The child takes this assessment from the attitude of those close to him. And, depending on whether his family accepts and encourages him, broadcasting the message “you are good”, or condemns and criticizes him - “you are bad” - the child develops a sense of psychological and social competence in the first case or inferiority in the second.

According to psychologists, no matter how old a child goes to school - at 6 or 7 - he still goes through a special stage of development, called the 6-7-year-old crisis. The former child acquires a new role in society - the role of a student. At the same time, the child’s self-awareness changes, and a revaluation of values ​​is observed. Indeed, what was previously significant - play, walks - becomes secondary, and study and everything connected with it come to the forefront.

At the age of 6-7 years, the emotional sphere of the child changes radically. As a preschooler, the baby, experiencing failure or hearing unpleasant comments about his appearance, of course, was offended or felt annoyed. But such emotions did not radically influence the development of his personality. Now, all failures are tolerated by the child much more acutely, and can lead to the emergence of a persistent inferiority complex. In other words, the more often a child receives negative evaluations, the more defective he feels. Naturally, such an “acquisition” can negatively affect the child’s self-esteem and the level of his future aspirations and expectations from life.

In school education, this feature of the child’s psyche is taken into account, so the first grade of school is a priori non-grading - grades are not used when assessing the work of schoolchildren. But parents should also support their child in every possible way:

• celebrate all the child’s achievements, even the most insignificant ones;
• evaluate not the child’s personality, but his actions - instead of the phrase “you are bad”, say “you did not do very well”; - when communicating with your son or daughter about failures, explain that this is temporary, support the child’s desire to overcome various difficulties.

Social and psychological adaptation of first-graders can proceed in different ways. There are three types of adaptation:

1. Favorable:

• the child adapts to schooling during the first two months;
• he enjoys going to school and is not afraid or insecure;
• the child easily copes with the school curriculum;
• he quickly finds friends, gets used to the new team, communicates well with peers, establishes contact with the teacher;
• he is practically in an even good mood all the time, he is calm, friendly, and friendly;
• he performs school duties without tension and with interest and desire.

2. Medium:

• the time to get used to school lasts up to six months;
• the child cannot accept the situation of studying, communicating with the teacher, peers - he can sort things out with a friend or play in class, reacts to the teacher’s comments with insults and tears or does not react at all;
• The child has difficulty following the curriculum.

Usually, such children get used to school and adjust to the new rhythm of life only by the end of the first half of the year.

3. Unfavorable:

• the child exhibits negative forms of behavior and may show negative emotions sharply;
• the child is not able to master the curriculum, it is difficult for him to learn reading, writing, counting, etc.;

Parents, classmates, and teachers often complain about such children; they are capable of unpredictable reactions and can “interfere with working in class.” All this adds up to a whole range of problems.

Causes of socio-psychological maladjustment

Experts identify the following factors for impaired socio-psychological adaptation:

• inadequate demands from adults - teachers and parents;
• situations of constant failure;
• child's learning problems;
• discontent, punishment, reproaches from adults;
• a state of internal tension, anxiety, and vigilance in a child.

Such tension makes the child undisciplined, irresponsible, inattentive, he may lag behind in his studies, gets tired quickly and simply has no desire to go to school:

• unbearable additional loads - various clubs and sections that gradually create stress and “overload” for the child; he is constantly afraid of “not being on time” and ultimately sacrifices the quality of all work;
• rejection of schoolchildren by their peers. Such situations in turn give rise to protest and bad behavior.

It is important for all adults - parents and teachers alike - to remember that bad behavior is a red flag. It is necessary to show additional attention to the student, observe him, and understand the reasons for the difficulty in adapting to school.

The issue of helping children get used to school painlessly and smoothly without compromising their health has never been more relevant. Experts recommend following simple tips:

1. Help your child get used to his new role as a schoolchild. To do this, it is necessary to explain to the child what school is, why study is needed, what rules exist at school;
2. Correctly build a daily routine for your first-grader. Daytime exercise must be consistent and constant, and take into account the child’s personal characteristics;
3. Discuss with your child the concepts of self-esteem, evaluation, and their various criteria: neatness, beauty, correctness, interest, diligence. Work with your child on ways to achieve all of this;
4. Teach your child to ask questions. Explain to him that asking is not at all shameful or shameful;
5. Develop your first grader's learning motivation. Tell him what education gives, what benefits he will receive and what he can achieve through successful studies. But, of course, be honest with him and, first of all, with yourself - no need to say that a gold medal will open the door to a carefree life. You yourself know that this is not so. But it’s still worth explaining that learning is interesting, important and necessary in order to later realize yourself in some business, right?
6. Teach your child to manage his emotions. This does not mean suppressing and hushing up your problems and fears. But the development of voluntary behavior is very important for every person. The student must be able to obey the rules when necessary, carry out tasks accurately, and listen carefully to assignments. Games according to the rules and didactic games can help with this - through them the child can come to an understanding of school assignments;
7. Teach your child to communicate. Communication skills will help him function normally in group activities at school;
8. Support your child in his attempts to cope with difficulties. Show him that you really believe in him and are always ready to help him if necessary;
9. Show genuine interest in the class or school your child goes to. Be sure to listen to your child when he wants to tell you something;
10. Stop criticizing your child. Even if he is bad at reading, counting, and writing, he is sloppy. Criticism from loved ones, especially in the presence of strangers, can only aggravate problems;
11. Encourage your child. Celebrate not only his academic successes, but also other achievements, even the most insignificant ones. Any supportive words from the parents will help the baby feel significant and important in the work he is doing;
12. Consider your child's temperament. Active children are physically unable to sit in one place for a long time. Slow people, on the contrary, have difficulty getting used to the difficult rhythm of school;
13. Stop yourself from comparing your child to other children. Such comparisons will lead either to increased pride - “I’m better than everyone!”, or to a drop in self-esteem and envy of others - “I’m worse than him...”. You can only compare your child with himself, his new successes with previous achievements;
14. Don't think that children's problems are easier than adults' ones. A conflict situation with a peer or teacher may be no easier for a child than a conflict between a parent and a boss at work;
15. When your child enters school, do not suddenly change family relationships. You shouldn’t say: “Now you’re big, wash the dishes and clean the house yourself,” etc. Remember, he already has enough stress from school;
16. If possible, do not overload the child during the adaptation period. There is no need to drag him straight into the sea of ​​clubs and sections. Wait, let him cope with the new situation, and everything else will be done later;
17. Do not show your baby your anxiety and concern about his performance at school. Just be interested in his affairs without judging him. And be patient while waiting for success - it may not appear on the first day! But if you label your child as a failure, his talents may never emerge;
18. If your child is very sensitive about school, reduce the importance of school grades. Show your child that you value and love him, and not for good studies, but just like that, that is, of course;
19. Be sincerely interested in your child’s school life, but focus not on grades, but on his relationships with other children, school holidays, excursions, duty, etc.;
20. At home, create an opportunity for your child to relax and unwind. Remember - at first, school is a very serious burden for your child, and he really gets tired;
21. Provide your child with a friendly atmosphere in the family. Let him know that he is always welcome and loved at home, no matter what;
22. After class, take a walk with your child. Help him satisfy his need for movement and activity;
23. Remember that late evening is not for lessons! After class, give your baby a rest, and then do your homework for tomorrow as early as possible. Then the child needs full sleep;
24. And remember that the main help for a child is kind, trusting, open communication with parents, their love and support.

The most important– is the development in a child of a positive and joyful attitude towards life in general, and towards daily school activities in particular. When learning begins to bring joy and pleasure to the child, then school will cease to be a problem.

The first of September is an important day in the life of every child. However, the joy of going to school for the first time most often goes hand in hand with excitement. And this is no coincidence - with the start of schooling, a new stage begins in a child’s life. Lessons, homework, new friends... How to understand whether a child’s adaptation to school is successful, prevent possible problems and provide him with all possible help?

School adaptation and its features

School adaptation is usually understood as the formation of new habits in a child, allowing him to successfully adapt to school life and its key features. Namely - a new daily routine, increased intellectual load, children's group, etc. Good school adaptation is easy to recognize: a child who has easily adapted to school is happy to attend and willingly shares with his parents his impressions of each new school day. He does not feel discomfort in communicating with teachers and easily makes new friends. Difficulties in a child’s adaptation can be indicated by the following signals.

1. Since entering school, the child’s physical well-being has deteriorated sharply; he began to get sick more often and complain about his condition for no apparent reason
2. The child could not find a single new friend in the class
3. You often notice that your child returns from school overtired and depressed. Or, on the contrary, overly disinhibited and excited
4. Your child tells you in plain text that he is having a bad time at school.

The presence of one or more signs may be a signal to parents that the child is having difficulty adapting to school. Let's look at the most common problems faced by modern first-graders and their parents.

Problems of school adaptation and ways to solve them

1.Emotional stress. The most difficult period in the life of every student is the first two weeks of school. It is during this period that the child’s nervous system, which has not had time to adapt to the new regime, can react painfully to stress. The consequence of this may be increased fatigue, irritability, drowsiness, and tearfulness.

How to recognize? The main sign of a child’s psycho-emotional stress is a deterioration in the general physical condition – sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, as well as frequent mood swings.

How to help? To prevent routine moments from becoming too much stress, it is advisable to start accustoming your child to them several months before going to first grade. Teach your child to go to bed and get up at the same time, set aside time for walks, meals, etc.

2. Fear of failure. As the school curriculum becomes more complex, the child may begin to notice that not everything is as easy as at first. The first failures can seriously unsettle a child, or even prevent him from learning for a long time.

How to recognize? Children who are afraid of failure are extremely sensitive to comments from teachers, they are afraid to take on a new task. A mistake made in writing or reading, as well as doing homework, often provokes violent reactions in him, even to the point of tears.

How to help? Try to encourage every, even the most insignificant, success of the child - be it a correctly read word or a neatly written hook in the copybook. Remember that every new step in mastering new knowledge for a first-grader comes with great difficulty. It is equally important that the child is sure that you love him, regardless of his school success.

3. Inability to cope with increased intellectual load. School education requires perseverance and increased concentration from the child. All this often requires skills that a child of primary school age has not yet fully developed.

How to recognize? A child who cannot cope with the intellectual load is characterized by excitability, inattention, and lack of interest in anything. They can demonstrate unreasonable stubbornness and negativism, even to the point of completely refusing educational activities.

How to help? The beginning of primary school age for a child is marked by a change in the leading type of activity - educational activity takes the place of play. To make this transition less painful for the child, try to soften it by including playful moments in the training. And also by diversifying the process of learning new material with the help of visual aids. This will “unload” the child’s psyche, turning boring learning into an exciting and interesting game.

4. Lack of formation of cognitive motivation. Lack of understanding of the importance of schooling.

How to recognize? Children whose cognitive motivation is not fully formed do not understand why they go to school and why they need schooling.

How to help? Unfortunately, it is worth noting that most parents rarely pay due attention to their child’s motivational readiness for school. In fact, by the time a child enters first grade, he should very clearly understand why he is going to school and how the knowledge he has gained can be useful to him in the future.

5.Painful adaptation to a new team. Quite often, children suffer due to poor relationships with both their peers and the teacher.

How to recognize? The child does not talk about his classmates and how he spends time with children at school and outside of it. And often he complains about the actions of other children and the teacher.

How to help? First, decide what problems are preventing your child from establishing relationships with classmates. Children don't want to play with him because he bullies and hits his peers? Or does your child, on the contrary, become a victim of ridicule and bullying? Then think about what exactly pushes the child to behave this way. What needs are being ignored? What mistakes did you make in your upbringing? If you cannot find answers to these questions on your own, do not hesitate to seek help from a school psychologist. The first grade is the period when the child begins to acquire a social role, which can take hold for a long time and largely determine his future.

How to help your child adapt to school? Tips for parents

1. Praise your child more often and criticize him less. Remember - the main task now is to help him believe in himself and his strength

2. Encourage your child to talk about his life at school and in his class. Show genuine interest in him

3. Take into account the individual characteristics of the child - temperament, work schedule that is comfortable for him, etc.

4. Never compare your child with other children - you can only compare your child with yourself

5. Try to provide your child with the opportunity to fully organize his leisure activities

Simple tips will help your child painlessly go through one of the most difficult periods in his life and understand that school life is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.

A child’s admission to school means a change in his social position and entails the breaking of old stereotypes of behavior and relationships with others, the need to master new norms and requirements imposed on him by the teacher and parents. All children go through a period of adaptation to school, even those who have good preliminary preparation.

Adaptation (from Latin adapto - adapt and socialis - social) - 1) a constant process of active adaptation of an individual to the conditions of the social environment;

2) the result of this process.

The psychological dictionary interprets personality adaptation as a process of active adaptation to the conditions of the social environment and as a result of this process. In the psychological literature, the concept of adaptation is interpreted with an emphasis on individual, personal qualities and the structure of the personality as a whole (A.A. Aldasheva, F.B. Berezin, N.G. Kolyzaeva).

Of particular importance is the child’s adaptation to school, as the process and result of coordinating the child’s individual capabilities and interaction with the outside world, adapting him to the changed environment, new living conditions, the structure of relationships in certain socio-psychological communities, establishing compliance of behavior with the norms and rules accepted in them .

The concept of “adaptation to school” is considered by G.R. Dichev, B.T. Gurusbekov as a complex system of adaptive measures aimed at mastering new social forms of activity, and associated, first of all, with a change in the status of the child.

According to M.R. Bityanova, adapting a child to school means adapting him to functioning: fulfilling educational and social requirements, taking on the role obligations of a schoolchild. Naturally, such an adaptation occurs not only at the external, behavioral level, but also at the internal, personal level: certain attitudes and personal properties are formed that make the child a good student - obedient and diligent. Consequently, an adapted child is a child adapted to the full development of his personal, physical, intellectual and other potentials in the new pedagogical environment given to him.

Under the adaptation of children to school V.R. Tsylev understands the process of a child’s adaptation to school requirements and routines, to a new environment for him, to new living conditions. According to him, a child must adapt to school not only to the organizational side of life, not only to his social role, but, above all, to the peculiarities of acquiring knowledge in a lesson. The educational environment that teachers organize and in which the child “lives” consists, on the one hand, of knowledge, skills, rules, activities that the child seems to appropriate, on the other hand, from his attitude to these rules, activities, and on the third - from the child’s attitude towards himself, towards his peers and adults around him, from his understanding of his place in this promised environment, his emotional sense of self in it.

As noted by V.S. Mukhina, the new social situation tightens the child’s living conditions. Adaptation of a child to school life is fraught with difficulties that he must overcome:

Development of a new school space;

Development of a new daily routine;

Joining a new, often first, group of peers (school class);

Acceptance of many restrictions and guidelines regulating behavior;

Establishing a relationship with the teacher;

Building a new harmony of relationships in a home, family situation.

Adaptation of first-graders to school is directly related to the “readiness of the child for school” and includes three components: physiological, psychological and personal adaptation.

The process of a child’s physiological adaptation to school has been studied for many years by specialists from the Institute of Developmental Physiology of the Russian Academy of Education Antropova M.V., Koltsova M.M. etc. As a result of numerous experiments and observations, they came to the conclusion that physiological adaptation to school in children takes place in several stages, each of which has its own characteristics and is characterized by varying degrees of tension in the functional systems of the body.

The first stage is indicative, when in response to the whole complex of new influences associated with the beginning of learning, the body responds with a violent reaction and significant tension in almost all systems (two to three weeks).

The second stage - the body searches and finds some optimal options, reactions to external influences.

The third stage is a period of relatively stable adaptation, when the body finds the most suitable options for responding to the load, requiring less stress on all systems.

It is believed that the average duration of all three phases is five to six weeks. The first weeks of training are characterized by a fairly low level and instability of performance, a very high level of tension in the cardiovascular system, the sympathoadrenal system, as well as a low rate of coordination of various body systems with each other.

Only in the fifth or sixth weeks of training do performance indicators gradually increase and become more stable, and the tension in the body’s main life-support systems (central nervous, cardiovascular, sympathoadrenal) decreases, i.e. a relatively stable adaptation to the entire complex of loads associated with learning occurs. And although it is believed that the period of acute physiological adaptation of the body to the training load ends in the fifth or sixth weeks of training, the entire first year (if we compare the indicators in the following periods of training) can be considered a period of unstable and intense regulation of all body systems.

The success of the process of physiological adaptation is largely determined by the state of the child’s health. Depending on the state of health, children are divided into groups with mild adaptation, moderate adaptation and severe adaptation.

With easy adaptation, the state of tension in the functional systems of the child’s body is compensated during the first quarter. With adaptation of moderate severity, disturbances in well-being and health are more pronounced and can be observed during the first half of the year. Some children have difficulty adapting to school. At the same time, significant health problems increase from the beginning to the end of the school year.

The criteria for successful physiological adaptation of children to school can be favorable dynamics of performance and its improvement during the first half of the year, the absence of pronounced adverse changes in health indicators and good assimilation of program material.

Personal, or social, adaptation is associated with the child’s desire and ability to accept a new role - a schoolchild and is achieved by a number of conditions.

1. Development in children of the ability to listen, respond to the actions of the teacher, plan their work, analyze the result obtained - i.e. skills and abilities necessary for successful learning in primary school.

2. Developing the ability to establish contact with other children, build relationships with adults, be sociable and interesting to others - i.e. skills that allow you to establish interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

3. Formation of the ability to correctly evaluate one’s own actions and the actions of classmates, to use the simplest assessment and self-assessment criteria - i.e. sustainable educational motivation against the background of the child’s positive self-image and low level of school anxiety.

The emotional state of a child is an important indicator of the satisfaction of his stay at school; it is closely related to the effectiveness of educational activities, affects the assimilation of school norms of behavior, the success of social contacts and, ultimately, the formation of the student’s internal position.

The degree of adaptation of a child to school is judged by indicators or parameters of adaptation: deviant behavior, anxious shyness, problems in learning, measurement of indicators of educational activity is usually carried out according to three parameters: self-esteem of the child, assessment of the child by the teacher, objective indicators of educational performance.

I.A. Korobeinikov analyzes aspects of successful adaptation of first-graders, summarizing the main criteria for success:

child's satisfaction with the learning process. He likes school, he does not experience uncertainty and fears;

the child can easily cope with the program;

the child’s independence when completing educational tasks, readiness to resort to the help of an adult only after attempts to complete the task himself;

satisfaction with interpersonal relationships with classmates and teacher.

According to the degree of adaptation, children can be divided into three groups.

The first group of children adapts during the first two months of training. These children relatively quickly join the team, get used to school, and make new friends. They are almost always in a good mood, they are calm, friendly, conscientious and fulfill all the teacher’s demands without visible tension. Sometimes they still have difficulties either in contacts with children or in relationships with the teacher, since it is still difficult for them to fulfill all the requirements of the rules of behavior. But by the end of October, the difficulties of these children, as a rule, are overcome, the child is completely accustomed to the new status of a student, and to the new requirements, and to the new regime.

The second group of children has a longer period of adaptation; the period of non-compliance of their behavior with the requirements of the school is prolonged. Children cannot accept a new situation of learning, communication with the teacher, children. Such schoolchildren can play in class, sort things out with a friend, they do not respond to the teacher’s comments or react with tears or resentment. As a rule, these children also experience difficulties in mastering the curriculum; only by the end of the first half of the year do these children’s reactions become adequate to the requirements of the school and teacher.

The third group is children whose socio-psychological adaptation is associated with significant difficulties. They exhibit negative forms of behavior, sharp manifestations of negative emotions, and have great difficulty in mastering educational programs. It is these children that teachers most often complain about: they “disturb” their work in the classroom.

G.M. Chutkina's experimental studies identified factors that determine a high level of adaptation (Table 1).

Table 1. Factors determining a high level of adaptation (according to G.M. Chutkina)

Thus, among the most favorable factors are adequate self-assessment of one’s situation, correct methods of upbringing in the family, the absence of conflict situations in it, a favorable status in the peer group, motivational readiness to study at school, and the level of education of parents.

The influence of unfavorable factors on a child’s adaptation to school, according to the same study, has the following descending sequence: incorrect upbringing methods in the family, motivational unpreparedness for school, dissatisfaction in communicating with adults, inadequate awareness of one’s position in the peer group, low level of education parents, a conflict situation due to alcoholism, a child’s negative status before entering first grade, a conflict situation in the family, a teacher’s negative style of attitude towards children, single-parent family.

The importance of family factors on the success of school adaptation is confirmed by research by Finnish scientists (Taanila A., Ebeling H., Kotimaa A.). Thus, in single-parent families (if parents divorce or in a single-parent family), behavioral disorders during the period of adaptation to school are more often observed, especially among boys; emotional disorders are more common in girls. A higher prevalence of adaptation disorders is observed in families with one child, while in large families the prevalence of disorders is less common.

Flay, BR. confirms the fact that violations of adjustment to school are associated with the specific social situation of the child’s development. The author highlights the following features of school maladjustment in younger schoolchildren:

school maladjustment is associated with the inability to master, first of all, the operational (and not the social) side of educational activity;

difficulties in learning and behavior are recognized by children mainly through the teacher’s attitude towards them;

The causes of school maladaptation are often related to the family’s attitude towards the child and his studies.

Thus, the first grade of school is one of the most difficult periods in the life of children. When entering school, a child is influenced by the class group, the personality of the teacher, a change in routine, an unusually long restriction of physical activity, and the emergence of new responsibilities.

The adaptation time for first-graders may vary. Typically, stable adaptation to school is achieved in the first half of the school year. However, it is not uncommon for this process to not be completed throughout the first year. Low performance remains, and poor academic performance is noted. Such children get tired quickly. By the end of the school year, they often experience deterioration in their health, which most often manifests itself as disorders of the nervous and cardiovascular systems.

Thus, adaptation is not only an adaptation to successful functioning in a given environment, but also the ability for further psychological, personal, and social development.

One of the main factors preventing a child’s normal adaptation, as we already know, is an insufficient level of school maturity, and, in particular, motivational readiness for school.

Surely there are no parents who would not be interested in how their first-grader adapts to a new life - lessons at school. Contact with peers and the teacher, level of academic performance and interest in knowledge, fatigue and poor sleep - all these are elements of adaptation, that is, the student’s getting used to school.

What should adults know about the indicators of such adaptation, its features and their role in this process? Let's try to figure it out.

Indicators of a child’s good psychological adaptation to first grade are when he goes to school with joy, prepares his lessons with eagerness and patience, and regularly and sincerely tells his parents about all school events and activities. If the reaction to school is the opposite, then this is evidence of the first-grader’s poor psychological adaptation to school and a signal for parents, which indicates that the child needs their help.

Both dad and mom should delve into the problems that the first grader talks about. If he does not want to talk about school at all, then he should correctly find out the reasons for such reluctance, perhaps go to school and talk with the teacher.

During the adaptation period, you cannot raise your voice at a child, much less ridicule and shame him. Parents who at this time give examples of other students who cope better with the learning process are fundamentally wrong. After such comparisons, children, as a rule, withdraw into themselves even more and do not want to share their experiences and anxieties with their parents. And they can also harbor hatred for their classmates, who, according to their parents, cope with everything themselves at school, learn English, and go to music school.

Support and praise, a calm tone of communication with first-graders should be characteristic of their parents. Children, feeling the support of their parents, cope better with psychological adaptation and demonstrate, although not significant, success. They always need to be encouraged and noticed. The phrases “I’ll look later” or “I don’t have time” should not be in the vocabulary of parents of first-graders. Praise your child for what he has learned, what he has read, and what he has improved in.

Help your little student if he can't cope. Find time to show and explain, but do not do the tasks instead of the child. Build independence skills in him.

The physiological adaptation of a student to school is the physical adaptation of their body to a new rhythm and stress. This type of adaptation is divided into several stages:

1. Physiological storm. The period lasts the first two to three weeks. At this time, the child’s body responds to all stress and innovations with tension in all its systems. This means that the child spends most of the body's energy resources. This is precisely what explains the trend of frequent illness among schoolchildren in September, especially first-graders.
2. Unstable device. The child's body finds acceptable reactions to new conditions.
3. Relatively stable device. During this period, the first-grader’s body reacts to loads with less stress.

Both parents and teachers tend to underestimate the complexity of children’s physiological adaptation to school. And, nevertheless, according to the observations of doctors, many children lose weight by the end of the first quarter in the first grade, some experience a decrease (increase) in blood pressure and headaches. And these are clear signs of overwork, which are most often observed in the first quarter. The difficulty of physiological adaptation to school can also be manifested by the capriciousness of children.

Signs of a child’s successful adaptation to school are:

1. Satisfaction with the learning process: he feels good at school, he goes there with pleasure.
2. Successful mastery of the program. If it is traditional, and the student has difficulties in learning, then it is impossible to do without parental and, possibly, psychologist support.
3. The level of independence of a first-grader when completing tasks. Often parents show excessive zeal and control, and the habit of preparing homework together becomes permanent in the child.
4. Satisfaction with interpersonal relationships. This refers to contact with the teacher and classmates, which is very important for further success and support of the desire to learn.

Stress and child's adaptation to school

First-graders often experience stress during the period of adaptation to school. And children who did not attend kindergarten are especially susceptible to this. First-graders experience three types of stress:

1. Social. This is manifested in the formation of relationships with classmates and the teacher.
2. Intellectual. It manifests itself during intellectual stress and assimilation of new knowledge.
3. Immunological. At the age of seven, children experience physiological changes in their bodies, which in itself leads to fatigue and mood swings. And the consequence of this is diseases of strong and healthy children, which are sometimes provoked by the natural exchange of bacteria between classmates.

In order to alleviate all these types of stress, parents should follow certain recommendations developed by psychologists and pediatricians:

1. Dream. Seven-year-old children need to sleep 10-11 hours a day. At this age, especially in the first half of the school year, daytime naps are also possible.
2. Walking and physical activity. The best rest is a change of activity, so mental activity must be combined with motor activity. Enrolling in a swimming pool or sports club will help you cope easier with adaptation at school. Doctors advise first-graders to spend at least two hours a day in the fresh air.
3. Preparation of lessons should be carried out so that after 30 minutes of continuous classes there is a 15-minute break. The peak brain activity of children in first grade occurs between 9-12 and 16-18 hours. Parents need to take this time into account when organizing their daily routine.

Adaptation of children with mental retardation to school

Children with mental retardation will more easily adapt to the first grade if they are taught an educational program that matches their capabilities. We are talking about special correction programs.

Education of such children according to the programs of mass general education schools in most cases leads to school maladjustment, especially in the first year of study. School maladaptation is the inability of a student to master the program and behavioral disorders. Such a child perceives himself as a failure. Therefore, the leading role in the normal adaptation of such children to the first grade is played by the organization of their education according to a feasible educational program.

It should be noted that children with mental retardation, according to research, make up approximately 50% of underperforming first-graders. Schools and classes for correctional and developmental education have been created for such children.

Adaptation to a new school

Getting used to a new school, the need to change which is often due to family circumstances, is a strong emotional stress at any age. Moving to another school is always associated with many questions that concern the student: “How will I be perceived in the class?”, “Will I like the new teachers?” And at first the child will definitely compare the old school with the new. When friends remain there, it will not be easy for a student, even a successful one, to adapt. Therefore, attention and help in getting used to it are required from his parents.

You can, for example, invite new classmates home. Walking and spending time with them should be encouraged.

Differences in programs or requirements may be a problem. Therefore, parents at this time require support and patience, and attention to the child’s mood. It may be acceptable to relieve him of household duties during the adaptation period. If your student has become overly irritable, then treat this with understanding. Surely this is a protective reaction of the child’s body to stress.

If irritability worsens, the child shows aggression for several months, and does not want to talk about school, then you need to go to the class teacher or school psychologist (preferably both) and ask them for advice.

Adaptation to school after summer holidays

After a three-month vacation, it is much more difficult for children to get used to school than for adults to go back to work after vacation. In order for them to quickly get involved in the educational process, psychologists advise changing their daily routine from mid-August. It should be the same as in September. The child needs to go to bed earlier and get up accordingly at the time at which he usually gets up during school. In the second half of August, it is necessary to repeat the material covered in the last academic year and read more.

Over the summer, a child’s hand becomes unaccustomed to writing, so it is necessary to write several dictations with the child. Let him write an essay at home about his holidays and his best impressions.

In the first days of September, give your student the opportunity to rest after school for an hour or an hour and a half. It is also important to monitor your son or daughter’s time in the fresh air.

A child's restless sleep at this time is a symptom of anxiety and fatigue. It would be a good idea to brew mint tea at night and spend some quiet time together in the fresh air. Make sure that an hour or two before bedtime, your student does not play too active, stimulating games.

Enhance your children's diet with vitamins in early September. Include more salads and fruits in your menu. Let your child eat a handful of nuts daily, which will help ease mental stress. Chocolate can also help with intellectual activity. But only black. Pamper your child!

Especially for - Diana Rudenko